Pesticide index for Ireland?

JapanZone

I'd be interested to know if there is anything similar to this for the Irish food market...I'm of the belief that constantly stressing about what you eat is (almost) as detrimental to your health as anything you actually put in your body, but as I have kids I'd like to be aware enough of these things to gently guide them towards eating as healthily as possible. Plus I sometimes wonder whether what seems to me to be an increase in food allergies among kids is less the fault of the food than the chemicals used in growing them. One of our kids has mild food allergies and all of those fruits and veg are in the Dirty Dozen list here. Coincidence?

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/

bob charles

JapanZone wrote: »

I'd be interested to know if there is anything similar to this for the Irish food market...I'm of the belief that constantly stressing about what you eat is (almost) as detrimental to your health as anything you actually put in your body, but as I have kids I'd like to be aware enough of these things to gently guide them towards eating as healthily as possible. Plus I sometimes wonder whether what seems to me to be an increase in food allergies among kids is less the fault of the food than the chemicals used in growing them. One of our kids has mild food allergies and all of those fruits and veg are in the Dirty Dozen list here. Coincidence?

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/

think you could jumble those lists up anyway and say that all those foods any way as they all come into contact with some form of pesticide somewhere or other, be it in the growing or storage. Onions for instance are a difficult crop to keep clean so receive a few herbicides passes. GMO is one way of seriously reducing pesticide use and it should be promoted as such

bbam

JapanZone wrote: »

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/

Don't be fooled into thinking this is an independant group out for public good. They appear to have their own adjenda to push and so are nothing more than a lobby group that seeks to strengthen itself by heaping public fear up on its side..

Interesting reading maybe, but I wouldn't be making decisions on what my kids eat based on its articles.

Actual alergies to foods is a poorly understood issue and its not until children are tested clinically can they be deemed to be alergic to a food or food group, and the number who do are actually very few.

More problems in growing children are caused by avoiding dairy and meat without consulting a health professional than are actually caused by the dairy and meat products. My Oh works in this field and constantly points out the danger of crackpots and their crackpot websites.

JapanZone

Sure enough, any claims made on the basis of scientific research have to be balanced against the possible vested interests of whoever is behind the research. I've sometimes wondered whether there will ever be a scientific type of Wikileaks, with scientists who value truth and the scientific method over financial gain or security going rogue and doing the world an invaluable service. Public trust would be hard earned but, once earned, public support would be massive.

My own perception of an increase in food allergies among kids is based on purely anecdotal evidence. My kids went to an international school and it seemed that just about every kid from North America had at least one food allergy, many of them had several, whether it be nuts, gluten, lactose, kiwi fruit or what have you. That and eczema seem to be noticeably more common now than a generation ago. Of course even if that anecdotal evidence is true, it's likely that there are multiple and complex causes.

bogman_bass

My theory is that kids are allowed to get dirty any more and their immune systems didnt have the same amount of work to do as ours did when we were kids. So now when a percived attack on the body happens the body over-reacts and we end up with these allergies

bob charles

Presume every oldie here remembers sharing a bite of an apple, lick of a lollipop with there buddies back in the say. Remember on day getting in trouble with my mum when she caught the dog licking my ice-cream. if this happened nowadays most mothers would have the kid rushed to intensive care.

bbam

Dare I say it but many houses are overcleaned and sterile too. Every surface blasted with bleaching "germ and bacteria" killing cleaning agents. Children who grow up in this environment have no immunity as they have been exposed to nothing. Then bang, they go to school or crèche and pick up everything going as its the first time they are exposed to anything. Then of course it's the milk or wheat or the beef cos god knows what those farmers are pumping into it.

Username John

This thread has taken a strange turn...

So the answer to a lot of these issues is people keeping their children or house too clean?
And do we think we are the first generation to say this, I mean - its only children today are the problem isn't it? Our parents didn't say the same about us?

bbam

Username John wrote: »

This thread has taken a strange turn...

So the answer to a lot of these issues is people keeping their children or house too clean?
And do we think we are the first generation to say this, I mean - its only children today are the problem isn't it? Our parents didn't say the same about us?

No it's not that simple. It's a whole facet of issues that build into the modern obsession that people or kids must be alergic to something.
Little johney is too fat cos he must be gluten intolerant and the wheat is bloating him, maybe the fact that little johney sits on his ass four or five hours a day in front of the Xbox is something to be seen.

Funny, look around any shopping centre on a Sunday and you'll see whoards of overweight families and kids. Go to a forest park and the people seem in better shape whith only the odd obese kid.

People are looking for some "problem" to blame rather than looking at their own lifestyle first. But that would mean its their own fault and we can't have that, easier for it to be pesticides or lactose or gluten intolerance.

Fifteen years ago the Irish were laughing at the fat Americans, we've little to laugh at now!

aidanki

bob charles wrote: »

Presume every oldie here remembers sharing a bite of an apple, lick of a lollipop with there buddies back in the say. Remember on day getting in trouble with my mum when she caught the dog licking my ice-cream. if this happened nowadays most mothers would have the kid rushed to intensive care.

made me laugh, shared a slice of apple tart with a cat, remember thinking he should share a dead bird that he had caught with me a few days later and he slapping me with his paw

bob charles

aidanki wrote: »

made me laugh, shared a slice of apple tart with a cat, remember thinking he should share a dead bird that he had caught with me a few days later and he slapping me with his paw

mean fecker that cat was, those dead birds were lovely and crunchy back in the day